Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling said during Elgin Baylor's wrongful termination civil trial Tuesday that he didn't know the accomplished basketball pedigree of his former general manager before hiring Baylor as vice president of player personnel in 1986, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

In response to a line of questions concerning Baylor's Hall of Fame playing career from Baylor attorney Carl Douglas, Sterling denied any knowledge of it, according to the Times report.

-- Clippers owner Donald Sterling on Elgin Baylor
"I didn't know [about] that," Sterling said, according to the newspaper. "I hired him for $3,000 a month. I didn't really know what his role was. ... He was working in a mail-order company back then."

Sterling also testified Tuesday that Baylor determined his own annual salary and had free rein to do as he pleased with decisions concerning the coaching staff and player transactions, according to the Los Angeles Times report.

On March 4, Baylor dropped part of his wrongful termination lawsuit against the Clippers, according to multiple reports. While the former Clippers general manager dropped allegations of racial discrimination, he is still going ahead with claims of age discrimination against the team.

Team officials say Baylor resigned in October 2008 after 22 years with the team. But Baylor, who is black, claimed in his 2009 lawsuit that he was "discriminated against and unceremoniously released from his position with the team on account of his age and his race." Baylor, who is 76, claimed he was "grossly underpaid during his tenure with the Clippers."